“Let’s try again,” the prince said. “Tell me how to wake The Eyes or I’ll kill them.”

“Don’t,” Hanif rasped. “He’s bluffing. He can’t kill us or the King—”

“Will do what?” the prince demanded.

“Send his troops to overthrow you,” Hanif said.

“Unlikely. The most I’ll get is a reprimand for arresting you. It’s not my fault if you died during an escape attempt.”

Hanif turned to her. “You know what we do for the King. Let the prince kill us. The King will send his troops.”

“Yes, do it,” Kaveri said.

“I’m not scared of the King,” the prince said. He motioned to Yates. “Captain.”

Yates pushed her aside and advanced on her mother with his knife drawn. Kaveri straightened and glared at the captain in defiance. No fear lurked in her gaze.

Shyla’s heart twisted with anguish. “No. Stop!” She was being selfish, and she didn’t care. They weren’t going to die because of her.

Yates glanced at the prince, who nodded.

“Tell me,” he ordered.

“You’re right, you have to remove my eyes. I assume they’ll turn back into gemstones, but I’ve no idea.”

“Then what.”

She was going to enjoy this next bit. “Then you have to sacrifice your own eyes. Once they’re gone, you place the gemstones into your empty eye sockets.”

The prince paled. “You’re lying.”

“No,” Hanif said. “She’s not. I was there. I placed The Eyes into her empty sockets.” He shuddered.

Shyla didn’t blame him. The memory of the pain haunted her dreams.

“A sacrifice is required,” Shyla said. “And a leap of faith.”

“What leap of faith?” the prince demanded.

“That it will work for you. That you will be able to wake the power.” That last statement resonated. Had The Eyes woken because of her magic or because of who she was?

“They won’t work for him,” Hanif said. “He has no magical abilities.”

The prince rounded on her. “You were able to use magic before stealing The Eyes from me?”

Hanif had seeded the doubt and now it was Shyla’s turn to water it. “Yes.”

“How? I thought you said magic didn’t exist. Did you lie to me?”

“No. I believed magic was a myth. But I was mistaken. I was…shown proof that it existed and was told of my own potential to use it.”

“What about me? Do I have potential?”

“I don’t know. You would have to remove my collar and your torque for me to see if you have it.”

“So you can take over my mind? Nice try.”

She shrugged. “Then you’ll just have to have faith.”